Tessa Thompson, relaxing alone

Programming note: We will be dark on Monday, August 3, for Canada’s Civic Holiday. Have a great long weekend, gossipers!

We are steaming right into August and the last days of summer because the sun is an asshole that never slows down, but for now, it is still Celebrity Vacation Season. The latest celebrity on vacation is Tessa Thompson, vacationing in Italy. It’s been a lowkey but busy year for Tessa. His & Hers, the schlocky thriller series she co-stars in opposite Jon Bernthal, dominated on Netflix earlier this year, and she also made her Broadway debut in The Fear of 13.

But now she is unbothered, moisturized, in her lane, etc etc. She’s in these photos alone, though she has been dating Brandon Green for the last couple years. They were still together earlier this year, she might just be having a solo day on vacay, it can be nice, even when traveling with someone you love, to have a little alone time to relax without anyone calling your name or needing anything from you. Or maybe she’s doing a whole solo trip!

Traveling alone is fun, and Thompson has talked in the past about enjoying a solo trip. I love a solo trip, sometimes it’s nice just to be with yourself. Tessa certainly looks like she is enjoying her own company. I am relaxed by proxy just looking at these photos. I am trying to work up the courage to take a solo sailing trip, but I worry about becoming the subject of a maritime disaster documentary on Youtube. Anyway, here’s to the solo travelers, squeezing in one last jaunt before summer turns into fall.

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What else happened today…

“Is your AI nose job setting you up for disappointment?” I’m gonna go ahead and say “yes”. (Popsugar)

Chase Sui Wonders is the latest celebrity rocking the “shirts that are not shirts” trend. You know what they say, not a shirt, not yet pants or whatever. (Go Fug Yourself)

You know you that bitch when you have academics, literary giants, and the general public arguing over your art. Joyce Carol Oates has responded to classicist Emily Wilson’s scathing review of The Odyssey. Wilson did a very well-regarded English translation of the epic poem, but she has no time for Christopher Nolan’s film adaptation (even though Nolan himself cited Wilson’s translation as an inspiration). Reading her review, I kind of think no adaptation would satisfy her, but I also think her review is in line with longstanding criticisms of Nolan’s work, that it can be cold, removed, and even emotionless.

I don’t usually agree with those assessments of Nolan’s work, but I DO think his work is more complicated than his blockbuster trappings make it seem. One of the traps of being so good at action is that slick action will sometimes make people unwilling to look deeper than the gloss. Nolan is sometimes a victim of his own success in that people see him as a purveyor of fine popcorn entertainments and don’t really want to go deeper than that. Although I also think The Odyssey IS one of his shallower films, which is why it’s not topping my Nolan rankings.

As I said in my own review of The Odyssey, what Nolan is doing here is specifically about connecting this ancient yet enduring tale with modern cinematic tropes. The film is basically a series of vignettes demonstrating these connections, so it is kind of just a pile of tropes in a trench coat, but that’s not cracking the top ten of Wilson’s criticisms. But I don’t know if I would call Wilson’s review “the crude language of MAGA folks” like Oates did, anyone who doesn’t like The Odyssey is NOT MAGA, that’s ridiculous. But I do think Wilson is responding, in part, to things we’ve heard about Nolan before. (Celebitchy)

Lainey addressed the latest allegations against Jared Leto in the mailbag intro today. Now, Kayleigh Donaldson writes about Leto’s agency, WME, one of the most powerful, connected talent agencies in the entire world, standing beside Leto. We keep asking why Leto keeps getting cast in major roles despite being box office poison, no one liking him, and actual decades of serious allegations against him. It’s because of this. It’s because the most powerful people in the room won’t quit him. (Pajiba)